Judaism, Masada, and Suicide: A Critical Analysis

1992 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Schwartz ◽  
Kalman J. Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Roman Literature ◽  
Response To Stress ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
State Of Israel

The story of the mass suicide at Masada is often given as an example of Jewish thought. In fact, the modern state of Israel is sometimes described as having a “Masada complex.” The present article examines Bellum Judaicum (the Jewish Wars) by Josephus [1], who was the primary, and for many centuries, exclusive source on this topic and arrives at far different conclusions. Analysis of speeches at Masada, and at a slightly earlier mass suicide at Jotapata, indicates clearly that suicide represents a Graeco-Roman rather than a Jewish response to stress. These speeches conform to Plato's dualism between body and soul and Seneca's sense of freedom rather than to Biblical and rabbinic thought. This conclusion is buttressed by the absence of a suicide narrative in Josippon, the Jewish reconstruction of Josephus [2], and by the presence of a number of examples of similar collective suicides in Graeco-Roman literature. The motives of Josephus are explored in the context of his desire to differentiate himself from the Sicarii while being both a good Jew and a good Roman.

Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Criminal Law Bill

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus D. Dubber
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Historical Account ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Penal State ◽  
State 1

Part III of Dual Penal State uses dual penal state analysis to generate a comparative-historical account of American penality. With comparative glimpses at Germany and, to a lesser extent, England, it distinguishes between two responses to the shared challenge of legitimating state penal power in a modern liberal democratic state: (1) the failure to appreciate the legitimatory challenge of modern state penal power in particular (United States) and of modern state power in general (England); and (2) the failure to address the legitimatory challenge of modern state penal power as an ongoing existential threat to the legitimacy of the state (Germany). Chapter 6 undertakes a critical analysis of Jefferson’s 1779 draft of a criminal law bill for the State of Virginia, concluding that it fell well short of a criminal code that reflected the ideals of the American legal-political project as spelled out, for instance, in Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence of 1776.

Antisemitism in Doubt. Historical and Methodological Reflections on Contemporary Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-216
Author(s):  
Amos Morris Reich
Keyword(s):  
Normal State ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Cultural Code ◽  
State Of Israel

Abstract In the attempt to find an Israeli approach to understanding the current European ambivalence towards Jews, this study focuses on the question of post-Holocaust anti-Semitism. It analyzes a specifically Israeli structure of experience of “schizophrenia” resulting from its decoupling of antisemitism from the Holocaust. It is shown that the justification of anti-Semitism has changed after the Holocaust. Thus, anti-Semitism has developed from a “cultural code” to a “semiotic problem”. The article concludes that the two main forms of Israel’s response to European anti-Semitism are inseparably linked to the question of whether Zionism ended with the establishment of the modern state of Israel and whether Israel is a “normal” state.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Joyce Dalsheim
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Nation State ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

This chapter introduces the book, beginning with its theoretical foundations in the study of nationalism and colonialism. It opens with the work of Lord Acton on how “the passengers exist for the sake of the ship,” in which the passengers are sovereign citizens in the nation-state. It considers the work of Eugen Weber on processes of cultural change that are fundamental to both colonization and nationalist projects. Introducing the modern state of Israel, it puts forth a thesis on how nationalism might be better understood as a form of self-colonizing, in which people must assimilate to the nation. In the case of Israel where “religion” and “nation” are conflated in the figure of the Jew, sovereign citizens must be Jewish in particular ways that limit Jewishness and freedom of religion. The chapter also explains why the book is framed with Kafka’s writing.

Divine Action in History

2021 ◽  
pp. 138-153
Author(s):  
William J. Abraham
Keyword(s):  
Jewish People ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Divine Action ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
State Of Israel

This chapter probes the relationship of divine action to historical processes by looking at the creation of the modern state of Israel and its relationship to the Jewish people. The establishment of Israel has been described by many writers as a miracle of God. It argues particularistic claims like these should be taken seriously. It also suggests that these kinds of public claims about divine action are not going away, and we ought to reckon with them; if we do not, it is to our detriment for public understanding. It suggests the crucial link between history and theology is the nature of causation—it draws on Ernst Troeltsch’s work to bring out this point.

Deciphering Hume

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 202-215
Author(s):  
Evgeniy N. Blinov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Radical Empiricism ◽  
Treatise Of Human Nature ◽  
Gradual Shift ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Philosophical Project

The present article analyzes an ambitious attempt to revisit and reevaluate Hume’s metaphysical project in the early 21th century, proposed by Vadim Vasilyev. His claim is to demonstrate that the problems raised by the author of Treatise of Human Nature and Enquiry concerning Human Understanding are far from being completely resolved and could provide us some valuable hints into the problems of contemporary analytical metaphysics. Against a widespread consensus that the evolution in Hume’s had been insignificant, Vasilyev maintains that his philosophical project underwent crucial transformations. He provides evidence of a gradual shift from a radical empiricism to a moderate rationalism by re-examining some classical problems of Hume’s studies and providing a critical analysis of the problems of causality and personal identity. This review provides some arguments for and against Vasilyev’s claims.

Estimating the Quotient in Division: A Critical Analysis of Research

1957 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 100-111
Author(s):  
Maurice L. Hartung
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Direct Process ◽  
Inverse Process ◽  
The Past ◽  
Considerable Research

There are several reasons why the process of division in arithmetic is more difficult to learn than the other processes. One of these reasons stems from the fact that division is not a direct process. It is an inverse process in which it is frequently necessary to estimate in finding the quotient. In the past, two methods of estimating the quotient have been in common use. One of these is generally called the “apparent quotient” method and the other is called the “increase-byone” method. There has been considerable research directed toward determining whieh of these methods is to be preferred for instructional purposes. The present article is not only a summary and critique of this research but also includes numerous comments upon aspects of the issue which have hitherto been largely neglected.

The Egyptian Cults at Corinth

1977 ◽  
Vol 70 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 201-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Edwin Smith
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman

Several recent publications have presented collections of various types of evidence for the Egyptian cults in the Greco-Roman World. Although valuable, they do not give sufficient critical analysis of the evidence through detailed study of particular sites. The present article attempts to provide for Corinth a more substantial picture of the Egyptian cults than has previously been available.

scholarly journals As execuções seletivas e a responsabilização de agentes terroristas

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Guerreiro
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
The Third ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
Minimum Number ◽  
Important Means ◽  
Terrorist Acts ◽  
Present Subject

Com o presente artigo é proposta a análise à crescente prática, no âmbito da luta contra o terrorismo, de execuções seletivas por alguns Estados, no que diz respeito à sua legalidade e licitude. Para este efeito, é feito um enquadramento histórico-político genérico da evolução da adoção de condutas que visam a concretização de execuções seletivas e outro de âmbito jurídico alusivo às situações em que um Ser Humano pode ser privado da vida. Deste modo, e com base na análise das normas internacionais em vigor, da jurisprudência mais relevante e também da doutrina que ou se pronuncia sobre o assunto ou contribui para a presente investigação, são dissecadas as duas atuais teses de conflitos armados e o terceiro modelo que tem vindo a ser reivindicado por um número residual de Estados como forma de legitimarem um quadro de supressão de todos os direitos básicos de pessoas de quem se suspeita estarem envolvidas em atos de terrorismo (concretizados ou a concretizar). Assim, é desenvolvida uma análise crítica no decorrer do artigo que concluirá que as execuções seletivas em contexto de luta contra o terrorismo constituem práticas ilícitas e violam o Direito Internacional propondo-se, como alternativa, que os terroristas sejam integrados no conceito de civil, qualidade esta que perdem se estiverem preenchidos cinco requisitos. (With the present article it is suggested an assessment to legality and lawfulness of the growing international practice of targeted killings, most of them justified within the context of the fight against terrorism by different countries. To this end, it is made a general historical and political framework regarding the evolution of the adoption of actions concerning targeted killings as well as the legal context according to which a person can be deprived of his/her life. Thereby, and considering the standards laid down in international law rules currently in force and also the most relevant jurisprudence and doctrine that deal with the present subject or that, at some extent, provide important means to support the present research, the two current official models of armed conflicts are dissected on this article. The same goes to the third model which is supported by a minimum number of States and takes into account the elimination of all basic rights to persons suspect of being involved in terrorist acts (committed or to be committed). Thus, a critical analysis is set along the present article which will come to the conclusion that targeted killings are unlawful and, consequently, contravene international law. Therefore, an alternative is suggested according to which terrorists shall be considered civilians unless five requirements are met.)

scholarly journals A Critical Analysis of the Eurocentric Dimensions of Ghose's Aesthetic Views

2021 ◽  
Vol VI (I) ◽  
pp. 240-245
Author(s):  
Asma Aftab
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Artistic Expression ◽  
Native Culture ◽  
Foreign Culture ◽  
Native Identity ◽  
Outright Rejection ◽  
English Culture ◽  
Subjective Identity

The present article has attempted to discuss the essential Eurocentrism of the Anglophone Pakistani writer Zulfikar Ghose that has shaped his subjective identity as well as literary outlook. The argument has used Frantz Fanon's theorization about the colonized intellectual whose exposure to foreign culture engenders anxiety and eventually becomes a precondition for his cognitive maturation. However, reading Ghose's prose, we find no traces of any such conflict in his subjective and artistic expression as he chooses to call himself a native-alien with an ambivalence which, turns many times, into an alienation, even outright rejection of his native identity as an Indian-Pakistani. The article concludes that instead of coming to terms with his native subjectivity, Ghose's voice remains Eurocentric as it is predominantly based on an explicit admiration and identification with the dominant English culture and his simultaneous distance from his native culture and its historical memory.

scholarly journals Sleep of the Soul and Resurrection of the Body: Aphrahat’s Anthropology in Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 433-466
Author(s):  
J. Edward Walters
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
The Body ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Body And Soul

Abstract The fourth-century Syriac corpus known as the Demonstrations, attributed to Aphrahat, the Persian Sage, provides a unique window into the early development of Christianity among Syriac-speaking communities. Occasionally these writings attest to beliefs and practices that were not common among other contemporaneous Christian communities, such as Aphrahat’s apparent belief in the “sleep of the soul” and the implications of that belief for his concept of the soul-body relationship and what happens to the soul and body at the resurrection. Aphrahat addresses this topic in the context of a polemical argument against an unnamed opponent, which provides the occasion to consider whom these arguments might be addressed against. The present article seeks to understand Aphrahat’s views on the body and soul within the broad religious milieu of the eastern Mediterranean world in Late Antiquity. The article concludes with an argument for reading and understanding the Demonstrations as a witness to the contested development of Christian identity in the Syriac-speaking world.

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